Advice You - Business

Customers don’t expect you to be perfect. They do expect you to fix things when they go wrong.
- Donald Porter V.P., British Airways

MARK is a local celebrity in his city. When his “big s

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

ister” and her husband visit, Mark likes to treat them to dinner in a fancy, lavish five star restaurant. On one occasion, upon arriving at the restaurant of choice, Mark and his family learned

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

there were no reservations in his name. He calmly asked, “Well, what are we going to do fix this? I’m sure there’s something your manager can do.”

The ma?tre d' returned with the manager, who a

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

pologized for the error and assured Mark they would resolve the situation at once. Meanwhile, the ma?tre d’ went to several tables and explained to each diner that the restaurant had misplaced a

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

reservation and asked if they would mind helping by allowing their table to be slightly “shifted.” He offered them a twenty percent discount off their bill for their inconvenience. Naturally, t

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

he other diners complied.

A space cleared in the middle of the room and four waiters carried in a table and chairs. In less than three minutes, accommodations were ready for Mark and his family

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

.

Sooner or later, you’re going to disappoint a customer. How you handle that crisis, will determine whether you lose a patron or gain a devoted supporter. If you can make a customer feel speci

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

al after you’ve disappointed them, you’ve taken a negative situation and transformed it into a positive.

TURNAROUND TIP: When you make a mistake, make no excuses. Own the mistake and begin to c

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

orrect it at once. However, it doesn’t do you or your associates any good if you try to solve a problem without a specific plan. The following steps offer a blueprint for crisis resolution that

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

you can adapt to your business. This guide comes from the book, Juiced! by Lipkin and Gillis.

1. Apologize immediately with genuine empathy. [The manager apologized to Mark without restraint f

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

or the embar-rassment and inconvenience the misplaced reservation caused his family.]

2. Take responsibility. Take control. Don’t badmouth your company and don’t go hunting for blame in front o

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

f the Customer. Dance, Don’t Fight. [The manager didn’t come out with blazing accusations saying, “It’s the hostess’ fault!” He took the heat. He owned the problem and made no excuses. Your cust

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

omer doesn’t care who’s to blame.]

3. Do whatever you can to fix the problem or resolve the situation immediately. Be crisis-ready. [The manager had extra tables and chairs for just such an eme

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

rgency.]

4. Have a resource-in-reserve that can be app-lied when and where it’s needed fast. [The manager authorized the twenty percent discount to the other diners to express gratitude at thei

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

r willingness to help. You might keep gift cards to give to Customers to offset the bitterness of a disappointment – along with an apology.]

5. Minimize the Customer’s inconvenience or discomfo

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

rt financially, emotionally and physically. Take the sting out of the negative experience. Manage your customer’s memory. [Will Mark remember the misplaced reservation or the way they fixed it?

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

Both, but he won’t tell the story without telling what they did to alleviate the problem.]

6. Follow up within twenty-four hours. Make another deposit into the memory bank account. [Mark receiv

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

ed a thank you note for his patronage and for his patience and understanding along with another apology for the inconvenience.]

7. Evaluate the service delivery process and implement changes to

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

prevent the mistake happening again. “What can we learn from this?”

Only you can answer the last question. Adapt and apply this guide as needed. In fact, you don’t need to save it for your cus

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

tomers. You can adapt it to work with family and friends, too. Run towards a problem, not away from it. “A crisis is a moment of truth: you can make it a moment of magic or a moment of misery.”

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

HTTP = HTML link (for blogs, profiles,phorums):
<a href="http://www.adviceyou.org.ua/article/15322/adviceyou-When-Bad-Things-Happen-to-Good-Customers.html">When Bad Things Happen to Good Customers</a>

BB link (for phorums):
[url=http://www.adviceyou.org.ua/article/15322/adviceyou-When-Bad-Things-Happen-to-Good-Customers.html]When Bad Things Happen to Good Customers[/url]

There are at least 100 reasons to move your Internet business to Panama, without changing where you live or work. Here are the Top 10. Give yourself a 50% raise this year on the same sales and conversion rate.

Consider for a moment how difficult it is becoming for marketers to consistently get their messages in front of their most important audiences. With myriad choices, many advertisers are less visible to their core audiences. A primary reason is that consumers are not consuming media in the ways they did even five years ago. While time in front of video screens is increasing, these screens now include e-mail, Internet web searching, video games, and DVD movies. While much television is viewed, TIVO is giving consumers control to skip over commercial messages.

Despite the wealth of books written on the subject of change management, many change initiatives still go off the rails. A rule based guidebook approach is no longer enough to ensure success in today’s complex environment. By living out certain key change principles, you and your team will be able to fill in the gaps and provide a much needed human dimension to organizational change. Find out what core principles you need to adopt and model for your change program to make a positive impact in your organization.

Tags

Links

Advice You - When Bad Things Happen to Good Customers

Related Articles: